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© St. Petersburg Times, published August 28, 2002
LAND O'LAKES -- A Pasco County sheriff's deputy trying to avoid an animal spun his patrol car into a utility pole on State Road 54 in Land O'Lakes early Tuesday evening.
Rescue workers had to cut Deputy Keith Krapflfrom his car shortly after 5 p.m., and a helicopter flew him to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa. The Sheriff's Office notified his wife, who was attending a PTA meeting.
"He was conscious but there's the possibility of internal injuries," Sheriff's Office spokesman Jon Powers said.
One of the few witnesses to the accident, Nevin Permenter, said the deputy was driving west on SR 54, about a quarter-mile west of U.S. 41.
Permenter said the deputy steered his car into a U-turn, as if he were trying to pursue a traffic violator driving in the other direction. But the car spun several times and hit the pole on the driver's side door.
"He smacked that pole real hard," Permenter said after rescue crews loaded the officer aboard an ambulance.
Powers said Krapfl was "apparently trying to avoid some kind of animal" when his cruiser spun out of control on a rain-slicked road. The impact with the pole was just behind the driver's door, Powers said.
Krapfl was talking to rescuers at the scene but was in pain, Powers said. He said Krapfl, 32, has been with the Sheriff's Office for two years.
The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the accident as the Sheriff's Office policy requires.